Lucian VS Metagross
by The Light's Refrain
Summary: ONESHOT - Lucian gets the best birthday present ever. Or so he thinks. As the struggle escalates into outright war, will Lucian be triumphant? Or will there be any winners at all? Slight Snazzyshipping. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINTCOLANIHIL!


_Hello! So this is my b-day fic for MintColaNihil! So this is a silly little story I came up with after much thinking. It took me a little while to figure out the plot, but I hope everyone, including Minty, enjoys it! My Lucian differs a bit from the norm, so it should be interesting to see what everyone thinks of him XD. _

**_Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, then I would own all the psychics, and therefore I would rule the world!...Until the Dark-types and Bug-types come, anyway..._**

Lucian Vs. Metagross

"_Temper gets you into trouble. Pride keeps you there." - Anonymous_

"Happy Birthday, Lucian!"

Everyone burst into Lucian's room at once with big grins: Aaron, Bertha, Flint, Riley for some reason, and, mostly importantly, Cynthia. They were donning every birthday party cliché imaginable: birthday hats, Pokemon-shaped balloons, regular balloons, and various noisemakers. Cynthia even threw in some belated confetti for good measure.

Lucian didn't know why they tried to surprise him. They all knew he could read minds, and that he could sense them eagerly congregating outside his door. Well, he supposed it was the sentiments that counted.

"What a surprise," Lucian said with a mild smile, snapping his latest novel shut after marking its place. Everyone knew better, but he might as well go along with the charade. Just another day at the Sinnoh League with the local psychic.

Soon came the good part: the cake (specifically, lemon cake fashioned into a Alakazam's face) and the presents. Lucian concentrated very hard _not_ to read everyone's minds, and spoiling his gift's identities. Some things he preferred to be surprises.

Aaron went the safe route and got him a whole new series of books: _An Espeon's Tale_, _An Espeon's Journey_, and _An Espeon's Return_. Bertha gave him a collection of Psychic Gems she had gathered in faraway Unova, as well as a purple-themed star quilt she had sewn herself. Flint gave him a lava lamp, probably because Flint thought it was cool (Lucian glanced into his mind, and soon confirmed his suspicions). Riley gave him some geodes and a fossil, probably for similar reasons (this too was verified with a swift thought check). What was Riley even _doing_ here? He wasn't a League member, and certainly not a friend of his, even if he was Cynthia's.

Lucian accepted all the gifts with grins. Even if they weren't things he asked for, he still appreciated them and the people they came from. Though he wasn't sure what he was going to do with the lava lamp…

Cynthia went last, handing him a wrapped-up sphere that was obviously a Pokeball. Lucian could feel the raw psychic energy radiating from it, and knew instantly what it was. He carefully stripped off the wrapping paper with his telekinesis (he could have done it by hand, but what was the fun in that?) and pushed the button on the red-and-white capsule.

One flash of light later, and a bizarre metal creature stood before him. It was quadruped, making its huge blue body almost spider-like. A large silver _X_ obscured most of its face. Red pupils within black eyes studied Lucian like a scientist looking over its latest subject.

"Oh wow! A Metagross!" Aaron exclaimed.

Lucian himself was speechless. He knew how rare its pre-evolution Beldum, much less Metagross, were, and how notoriously hard they were to catch. Some compared capturing one to capturing a legendary. As he thought about how hard it must have been to obtain such a creature, he caught scraps of memory from Cynthia: Cynthia finding the Metagross, Cynthia challenging the Metagross, and then Cynthia engaged in a intense battle with the blue metal monster. She threw Pokeball after Pokeball at the metal beast, and the Metagross broke out of each one. Seeing that, and the fact that Lucian had wanted on for a while…

"…Thank you," Lucian finally said. It was all he could think of saying. "Thank you very much."

IIIIII

Lucian spent the rest of the day in quiet bliss, as his birthday turned into a day-long at the most famous places in Sinnoh, ending with an excellent meal at the Battle Café. Though he enjoyed the extra festivities immensely, his mind kept slipping back to the Metagross clipped to his belt. He couldn't wait to use it. Starting tomorrow, he would start properly training it immediately.

When tomorrow came, the happy glow from the day before began to disperse. The truth was rising like smoke on the horizon of daybreak.

Metagross was a was a massive, mighty, intelligent being, and Metagross knew it. In fact, it seemed to consider itself vastly superior to all other life forms, including Lucian. The metal monster didn't say this directly to Lucian: like most Pokemon, it spoke it its own distinct language. However, Lucian could feel its potent psychic power and read its mood and intentions.

The problem, of course, was that Metagross could do that too. Only it was much, _much_ more skilled at it, being essentially a psychic supercomputer. It could predict Lucian's plans several steps ahead, and thwart them before Lucian even knew he was _making_ plans. Lucian, who considered himself intellectual by human standards, was not pleased about being constantly outsmarted by his own Pokemon.

Metagross wasn't a team player either. It bullied his other Pokemon, to the point where they deliberately avoided it. It consumed enormous amounts of food, driving away any Pokemon that tried to get a bite to eat themselves. Sometimes it even stole food from the other Pokemon. It was bad enough that Lucian had to feed it separately.

Metagross excelled in battle, however. It obeyed Lucian's commands and took out many challenger's Pokemon with ease. It did this partially because it loved to battle, and partially because silently taunting Lucian via telepathic impulses only he could detect.

Normally, Lucian would just get another Metagross. Lucian had dealt with three Alakazam before finally finding his current team member. But Lucian didn't have that option this time: Metagross were rare, and, more importantly, _Cynthia_ gave him this Metagross. He was not about to box or trade away her birthday present to him. Nor was he going to admit he was being bested by a supernatural machine Pokemon.

So every time Cynthia, or anyone else, asked about his Metagross, he gave a calm smile back and told them Metagross was doing fine, _great _even. Now they could go away while he tried to work out his current problem. He didn't say the last part, of course, but his cheerful comrades were becoming increasingly irritating.

The Metagross didn't disrupt the façade and behaved around others, so their power struggle was kept under wraps. Metagross knew as well as Lucian that if everyone else knew, the game would be over for both of them. Lucian would be humiliated, and Metagross would likely be sent away. This was a personal contest, with both of them determined to win.

Lucian tried passive methods first. He played chess with it, and never won once. He tried taking it to Pokemon massage parlors, but Metagross didn't want any human laying a hand on it. He tried introducing it to the wondrous world of books, but it didn't bother trying to read anything (though Lucian knew full well it was brilliant enough to do so if it really wanted to). Lucian even denied it lunch, to see if he could control it via its ravenous stomach.

The last one was the greatest disaster of all. After Lucian came back to his room from his own lunch, he found Metagross out of its Pokeball, It proudly stood over the myriad books laying shredded on the floor. It levitated and tore up a few more pages just because it knew it would anger Lucian more.

It did.

Lucian's eyes shone bright blue as he snarled, his hair floating as ripped paper spun around him like a snowstorm. "That's it! If brute force is all a hulking machine like you can understand, then I'll bring you down myself! One on one! Psychic power versus psychic power!"

Lucian almost wanted to swallow his words, but he was not about to show fear in front of Metagross. Really, this was the best option. Cynthia battled it, and it seemed to have a healthy respect for her. So if he could beat it himself, it would have no choice but to regard him as its better.

Metagross, with an almost giddy rattling, accepted his challenge by stomping one of its spiked feet on the floor. The room, or what was left of it, shook slightly.

IIIIII

They couldn't have a fight at the League though, so Lucian chose Iron Island as their battleground. It was isolated, and…Lucian didn't want to think too much on the matter. Extensive planning was detrimental when your opponent could read your mind.

They stood on top of the mountain, each waiting for the other to make a move. Facing Metagross with only his own psychic abilities felt like a worse and worse idea by the minute, but Lucian wasn't about to back down now. He knew he couldn't take Metagross head-on, but knockout was only one of two options. If he made it exhaust its psychic power, the only type of attack allowed in this match, that would prove he was the better psychic, and therefore the winner. Knocking out the mighty tank-like Pokemon would be a great catharsis though.

Lucian levitated several rocks, sending a swarm of large stones at Metagross. The metal monster easily halted their high-speed flight though, and shot them back at Lucian. He telekinetically raised up a great cloud of dust to obscure himself from view. The rocks whizzed by him, with some of their paths deftly altered by his powers to keep from getting too close.

_I could die in this spat_, though Lucian, but he was too furious and fed-up with Metagross's antics to care. He levitated himself so that he could be faster and harder to hit. He evaded more stones, clumps of earth, spikes of loosely-formed iron, and even a poor Staravia that had been dragged into the telekinetic fight as it was flying by. Whatever he couldn't dodge, he blocked by making shields of boulders or walls of ground. His own raw power wasn't strong enough to stop projectiles in their tracks, though he could slow them or tweak their flight course. Whenever he had an opportunity he flung his own attacks at Metagross, though their purpose was more for annoyance and distraction than actual damage.

Lucian manipulated the ground around Metagross's feet, liquefying it and causing it to mold around its spider-like legs. Metagross used its powers and own might to get rid of the mud, but more muck soon bound it in place again. Eventually Metagross made an irritated beeping sound, and used its psychic power to magnetize itself, activating a Magnet Rise state. It rose off the ground, tucking its legs in as it broke free of the mire. It looked like a alien warrior's UFO.

Lucian smirked.

Before Metagross could react, the endless iron ore in the already-destabilized soil erupted out of the mountain and piled onto Metagross now-magnetic body. It looked more and more like an actual spider. Unable to instantly reverse the effects of its Magnet Rise, even Metagross's immense psychic power could keep it aloft for long. It crashed like a meteor onto the ground-

And suddenly the weakened, half-liquefied ground gave way, and both Lucian and Metagross were falling into the depths of the deep, hollowed-out mountain. Metagross was weighed down by all the magnetized iron ore, and Lucian's own psychic powers were fading fast, already pushed to the brink during their match. Hurriedly he tried to recall Metagross, but the thick layers of iron coating it blocked the Pokeball's retrieving beam.

_I've doomed us,_ Lucian thought. _All over a stupid-_

A frantic roar echoed from above, and several vines whipped down and seized Lucian. The thorns in the vines sunk painfully into his skin as it stopped his fall, but it was a lot better than dying. But Metagross-!

A bright psychic aura enveloped the falling Metagross, the last of its psychic power, but that only slightly slowed its fall. Then the glow intensified as a other Psychic-using Pokemon materialized and unleashed their power: a Spiritomb, and two Lucario. Between all the telekinetic efforts the iron-bound Metagross landed roughly but safely.

Lucian felt himself being lifted up, and found himself face-to-face with a cross Cynthia, riding her Garchomp, and her Roserade.

"Cynthia? How did you…" Lucian began, before noticing Riley nearby. He got a few mental snapshots of Riley spotting the fight, being confused, and then calling Cynthia on his Poketch. Blasted Riley and his snooping, even if it _did_ happen to be a good thing this time…

"What the _hell_ were you thinking, Lucian?" Cynthia yelled. "Putting yourself in such pointless danger like that?"

Her gray eyes were glaring at him, but Lucian didn't need to be a psychic to know she was more scared and upset than angry. Actually, being a psychic only made Lucian feel much, much worse. He averted his gaze.

"I'm sorry, Cynthia…"

Cynthia's expression softened, now more perplexed than furious. "What _were_ you doing out here anyway? Why were you fighting your own Metagross?"

Lucian sighed heavily. The game was over, and it was just as well. "It's a long story…"

IIIIII

"You should have just told me that you were having issues with Metagross," said Cynthia. They were in Cynthia's battle room, in all its semi-psychedelic glory, with Metagross wandering about. "I thought that Metagross might be difficult, given its nature and its life as a wild Pokemon, but since you said everything was fine…"

Lucian kept quiet. It would have been simpler that way. Right now, Lucian was just glad that Cynthia had decided to keep the knowledge of this incident to herself and Riley. Though facing Cynthia's disapproval was the worst, he didn't want to deal with the other League members lectures and laughter on top of that. Riley was going to be bad enough…

"…Anyway, point is, don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it," Cynthia added. "We're meant to work together, not just compete with each other. You can trust us."

Lucian nodded. "I know. It's just…well, I didn't want to seem like I was looking a gift Rapidash in the mouth, so to speak. And you fought so hard to capture the Metagross too…"

"Huh?" Cynthia asked. Then she smiled. "Did you…not entirely read my mind?"

Now Lucian was the one puzzled. "I didn't want to be rude…"

Cynthia laughed. "Don't worry, you've got my permission."

Lucian paused, and then let himself scan Cynthia's mind.

_He saw Cynthia finding the Metagross, Cynthia challenging the Metagross, and then Cynthia engaged in a intense battle with the blue metal monster. He saw her throw Pokeball after Pokeball at the metal beast, and the Metagross breaking out of each one. _

_Then the fighting stopped, the two sides staring each other down. Cynthia flung something at the Metagross, but it wasn't a Pokeball. It was a handful of small red berries._

_Metagross eagerly, almost desperately, gobbled them up. It looked back up to Cynthia nearly expectantly. _

"_You have a hard life here, don't you Metagross?" said Cynthia, looking sad. "The resources are scarce, few Pokemon here are edible for you, and then there's Kyurem…"_

_Metagross seemed to shudder at the mention of the ice dragon, the legend notorious for eating both Pokemon and people._

_Cynthia smiled. "But, if you come with me…"_

Lucian snapped out of his vision. "That was all you had to do?"

"Uh-huh," Cynthia replied cheerfully. "Metagross is aggressive because it had to be to survive in the Giant Chasm. It's greedy and possessive about food because it's used to not knowing when its next meal will come."

_So that was why it reacted so extremely when I refused it lunch before_, though Lucian. _It thought I was going to stop feeding it altogether, and it would starve. So it made sure to get my attention by wrecking my books and my room…_

"So if you just keep giving it lots of food and attention, I'm sure it will warm up to you eventually. Oh, and Cheri Berries. It loves spicy stuff like that." Cynthia explained. She then turned to Metagross. "And Metagross, you need to treat your Trainer and your teammates with respect. Lucian can be a harsh Trainer, but that's only so you can get stronger. You don't have to live in fear anymore, because Lucian will take good care of you."

Lucian and Metagross exchanged glances and thoughts.

"So," Lucian eventually said. "Let's try this again…"

IIIIII

It turned out that Cynthia was right, as she usually was.

As Lucian and Metagross took out challenger after challenger with perfect coordination, it seemed like there was never a time when they didn't work together.

Metagross was the best birthday present ever.

_IIIIII_

_I know Lucian's not a proven psychic, but I always assumed he was due the purple hair (remember all the purple-haired psychics from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald?). Riley's presence at the beginning is kind of random, but I needed him there because I needed him familiar with Cynthia and the Elite Four. That way, later on he 1. Feels comfortable enough questioning Elite Four actions, in this case Lucian's fight with Metagross and 2. Is familiar enough with Cynthia to actually know her number and call her. _

_Some compared capturing one to capturing a legendary- Beldum, Metang, and Metagross all have the catch rate of a legendary. That's why it's so hard to catch any of them XP.  
_

_Well, I hoped you enjoyed! If you see any stupid errors, let me know so I can fix them XP. _


End file.
